The Day She Left Us
by Katie-The Dark Angel
Summary: The Storm Hawks think back to the day they lost one of their teammates. Yeah, I know, not the best summary out there...
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

_Two people occupied a room with only a dim light to illuminate them. One a girl, standing straight and proud, the other a man, bowing his head to show the respect he had for her. Two voices cut the silence, not letting it fill the room as it does the rest of the palace._

"_The Storm Hawks are at their strongest when they are together. Their individual flaws are unseen when they fight side-by-side, masked by the others' strong points. Separate them, and they become weak, lost, like little children."_

"_Give the orders and I will make sure that they are followed."_

_A small smile._

"_Go. Take as many Talons as you can with you. Follow my plans entirely and the Storm Hawks will be no more before nightfall. Failure will not be accepted."_

"_Consider it done."_

_Two smirks of triumph, two minds certain of success, two pair of eyes gazing towards victory. _

_The plan would not fail, not this time._


	2. Aerrow

_**The Day She Left Us**_

Related to the fic _**I'm Sorry**_. I guess it's not necessary to read it to be able to understand this one but it wouldn't hurt.

**Written for** _**Raeyvn**_** and **_**-TWINZ-**_ because they said I should write a proper fanfic of _**I'm Sorry**_ - This may or may not be what you guys had in mind but either way I hope I don't disappoint you.

**And for my uncle **because he was more than just an uncle to his nieces.

This fic will be 4 chapters long (well, 5 if you count the prologue) and each chapter will be in a Storm Hawk's POV, starting with Aerrow. I tried to keep them in character but if I failed... well, at least I tried, right?

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks

* * *

Aerrow

That day we lost someone special to each of us. I mean, the Storm Hawks isn't just a team. We aren't just a bunch of teens trying to win a war. We are more than just friends. We are a family. And for some of us, the only family we really remember.

That day, the day she was taken away from us, started like every other normal day had. We woke up in the morning - some later than others *cough* Finn *cough* - we had breakfast and then did whatever we felt like. That day we had no mission so we picked a terra where we could spend the weekend. After a long time we finally agreed on Tropica, mostly because it was pretty close and no one really wanted to go to Terra Neon anytime soon. Just thinking about that training with Ayrgyn... And then the encounter with the Dark Ace in that suit...

Moving on.

The guys and I, except for Stork who was at the helm, played card games for a while to pass the time but I got bored pretty soon and left the bridge to find Piper. I found her in her room, studying a crystal, but she let me in saying that she wasn't really busy. In fact, I had come exactly at the right time; she was just about to come get me. She needed help with something but she never got around to tell me. Stork's voice cut her off and she sighed. I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled reassuringly to her, saying I'd help her out later. She smiled back and thanked me.

We walked to the bridge together. When we got there, Stork had already begun predicting worst-case scenarios. I grinned to Piper who in turn rolled her eyes.

We sat down at the table and Finn and Junko told us about a distress call we had received. Three men had crashed on their skimmers on a small remote terra and they had no way of getting off it. To top it off, Cyclonians were looking for them - or whatever they had with them - and they insisted that we'd get them away unnoticed. Unfortunately, that was all the information the pair got before the signal was lost.

I heard Piper moan beside me. We all turned to her and watched her look away from a map.

"The terra's so far away. And to get there and away again unnoticed... We'd have to take our skimmers and fly through the Wastelands."

I nodded.

"Okay, here's the plan. Piper, Stork, you stay on the Condor and keep it out of view. Stay in radio contact and we'll meet up around here again when we get back. Finn, Junko, Radarr, you're with me. Meet me in the hangar in five."

I turned away but Piper stopped me. The guys went on ahead of me to retrieve their armours and weapons.

"Aerrow, wait; I wanna come with you. This is a part of Atmos we've never flown through; I could update my map a bit on our way there."

"Listen, we can't risk being seen..."

"We won't, I promise. I just want-"

"I'm sorry, Piper, but the fewer that go, the better. There are only three of them so we only need three skimmers-"

She didn't let me finish what I had to say. She frowned in disappointment and turned her attention back to her map with a pencil in her hand. Silently, she drew a line from our current location and to the terra the men crashed on. I watched her for a minute, feeling bad for not letting her come with us but knowing it was necessary, and then left to get my armour and my blades.

She met us in the hangar, where we were ready to go on our skimmers, and she handed me the map, the sad expression still present on her face. She said good luck to us and turned to leave but I didn't let her. I didn't want to leave her like this. So, I grabbed her wrist, preventing her from walking away, and turned her so she faced me. I placed a hand on her shoulder as I met her eyes and I made her a promise. I promised I'd make it up to her when the mission was over. I promised we'd come back here if she wanted and I'd help her update the whole map. I promised and she gave a small smile. She whispered a 'thank you' and stepped back, watching us ride out of the hangar and take off into the sky. I looked over my shoulder and saw her waving. Radarr saw it too and waved back. Then we both turned forward and flew off, not knowing that would be the last time we'd see her alive.

I keep asking myself; if I had just stayed on the bridge, instead of going to find her, and heard the distress call myself, would I have recognized it as a fake one? If I had just let her come with us, would she still be here? If I would change one thing, one decision, would she still be alive?


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

_Black hair moved in the wind, crimson eyes fixed on three shadows flying away from an airship._

_A smirk formed._

"_They took the bait. Three of them are heading your way."_

_A brief pause while he removed a finger off a button and then her voice came from a small speaker on his ride._

"_We're ready."_

_She ordered her men to hide, thanking Atmos her idiotic brother had remained in Cyclonia._

_He took off towards the Condor, the three shadows gone far enough to not realize anything._

_Nothing could possibly go wrong._

_He flew alongside the ship, activating his long blade, and noticed two pair of eyes staring at him as he passed the window, fear shining within them. He laughed and turned around, went back. Blade pointed at the window, the middle one. _

_He fired. _


	4. Stork

_**The Day She Left Us**_

Okay, finally things slowed down enough so I could write and post the next chapter. It's in Stork's POV and- ah, just go on and read it :)

Oh, and I kinda changed my mind on how the story would be written so the prologue is now Chapter 1 and there will be 8 'chapters' instead of 5.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks

* * *

Stork

In spite for every time I predicted our doom, I never actually wanted it to come true. I always did everything I could to keep the ship airborne and the people inside relatively unharmed, usually with some help from the others. But what happened that day... Not even I had dared to predict it. Although I guess you can say I was kinda close, in a way.

When she returned from the hangar the frown had been replaced with a small smile, though her disappointment was still evident. I guessed Aerrow had said something to cheer her up. But just to be on the safe side, I added to it. When she pretended to leave us I decided I'd never wanted to go through that again. And no, it's not just because of her sand-cakes. Seriously, we'd be dead a thousand times over if she wasn't a part of the team.

So I told her... I said that _if_ we'd be lucky enough to survive this mission, I'd help Aerrow keep whatever promise he had given her. Her smile grew a little at that and she asked me why I couldn't be a little more optimistic. She said this was just a simple mission; nothing could go wrong. I, of course, didn't agree with her but I thought we'd _all_ suffer a slow and painful death, not just her.

The guys had been away for a while when they came. The Condor was slowly floating forward, the movement barely detectable. I stayed by the controls, just in case something unexpected would happen. She sat on the sofa, studying a chart. I heard something faint, something familiar from outside and searched the sky. Soon, Piper raised her head and listened. I looked at her; I knew what it was. The sound got higher and clearer and she furrowed her brow. She definitely recognized it too. Skimmers. She stood and moved to the windows.

"The guys can't be back yet, can they?" she asked.

I never got the chance to answer her. As soon as the last word left her mouth, we were attacked. Blasts were shot our way from dozens of skimmers that circled the ship, most of them hitting their target. I looked for a symbol, knowing beforehand what I'd find. I soon found what I searched for - the red bird of Cyclonia.

Talons.

And as if that wasn't enough, we just had to hear the Dark Ace's laughter as he flew past the window with his blade activated. He turned around and stopped in front of us, pointing his blade at us.

He fired.

We barely managed to jump out of the way before the shot broke through the window and shards of glass rained over us. I jumped to my feet and grabbed the controls but nothing I did seemed to work. I couldn't fly away; the blast had damaged the helm.

Piper came to stand next to me and cursed when she saw Talons land on the runway and force the door open. She grabbed her staff, told me to do whatever I could to get us out of here and then ran off to meet them. I felt my eye twitch and looked frantically around for any kind of tool. At that time, I didn't really care what I'd use.

Luckily, I found exactly the tools I needed and tried to get the controls to work again. I could hear sounds of things breaking, shouts from various people and blasts being fired in the hallways - and steadily moving closer. The door eventually burst open and Talons streamed through. Piper ran in too, fighting as many Talons as she could. I tried to help, using every trap I could but for every Talon we beat, others took their place.

"We can't fight them all, Stork! We need the guys! They'll just have to abandon their mission for now."

"Right."

I grabbed the radio but found it to be dead. I shook it in frustration but of course that didn't work. Not that I expected it to, anyway. It must have been damaged along with the helm when the Dark Ace shot at it.

The door opened as I threw the useless device away, but I didn't pay any attention to it, thinking it was just more Talons. I yelled to her, telling her the radio was dead and was answered with laughter. I turned around. The Dark Ace walked in, his blade still activated in his hand.

"Hah! Even if you were able to contact your teammates, it'd be too late. There's an ambush on the terra they're heading towards."

Our eyes widened in realization and she met my eyes for a brief moment. We had been tricked. She turned back to the Dark Ace and shouted, anger masking the fear I knew she was feeling.

"No! You're lying; they'll be just fine."

He only laughed at her, his men joining him. She looked at me, mouthing something, and motioned to the door. I didn't understand at first but then I got it. I had a second radio in my room; she was going to buy me enough time to use it.

She grabbed her staff tighter and fell into a fighting stance. The Talons laughed even harder, probably believing she was stupid to think she could fight the Dark Ace. The Dark Ace just smirked and mimicked her position. None of them looked in my direction. And none of them noticed when I snuck out of the room and into a surprisingly empty hallway.

I didn't want to leave her but she was right; we couldn't fight them alone. I ran to my room as fast as I could and grabbed the radio off my desk. I turned it on and searched for the guys' signal with shaking hands. I soon found it.

"Um, guys?"

Aerrow was the one who answered me.

"What is it, Stork?"

"Aerrow, you have to come back now! We were tricked and Piper... there are too many Talons; we can't fight all of them. Right now, she's fighting the Dark Ace so I could call you guys."

"No!"

I didn't hear any more from him so I dropped the mouthpiece and left the room. I was on my way back to help her when I heard her scream. Her voice was so loud, so full of pain. I started to run faster towards the bridge, I just had to get to her, but I stopped as her cry was silenced. It didn't fade as if she had to stop to take a breath. It disappeared altogether in mid-scream. That's the last time I ever heard her voice and the shriek still haunts me.

The door to the bridge opened and I jumped into the nearest room - the medical bay. I could hear footsteps approaching and I searched anxiously for a hiding place. My eyes settled on an air vent and I quickly pulled it open and leaped in, letting it fall closed behind me. My arm got stuck under me in a rather uncomfortable way but I didn't have time to do anything about it. The door to the room was opened and I held my breath.

Whoever it was scanned the room quickly and was stepping out of the room when another set of footsteps headed his way. I couldn't see who they were since I had gone in headfirst but _his_ voice is something you'd be able to recognize anywhere.

"Anything?"

The Dark Ace.

"No, sir, we can't find the merb anywhere."

There was a pause and then.

"No matter; the girl's dead and the others will be too in a matter of seconds. He can't do anything alone. Land the ship on an empty terra and let's go."

They walked away.

I wasn't able to move for a moment. Not that it was easy to begin with but hearing the Cyclonian's words left me immobile. Eventually though, I finally managed to slip out of the air vent. I didn't dare leave the room. Besides for the remaining Cyclonians, I was afraid of what would meet my eyes on the bridge. I leaned against the wall and, slowly, I slid down it, to the floor, eyes wide open in shock. I couldn't believe my own ears. I didn't want to.

This wasn't real. This couldn't have happened.

Anything else... anything but that...

...I should never have left her...


	5. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

"_No! You're lying; they'll be just fine."_

_Laughter surrounded the sole female in the room. The feared commander soon quieted down but let the smirk remain on his face._

_She fell into a fighting stance. The laughter grew louder, though, this time, he remained silent._

_Was she serious?_

_Was she really stupid enough to attempt to fight him?_

_Did she really think she could win?_

_He smirked and mimicked her stance, only to mock her rather than anything else. Talons held their stomachs, leaning on their staffs for support. The laughter slowly died, replaced with silent cheers. Her fingers held onto her own staff tighter. His free hand motioned for her to start._

"_Ladies first."_

_Amber eyes narrowed. A growl emitted from her throat. _

_She jumped forward._


	6. Finn

**_The Day She Left Us_**

Okay, here's Chapter 3 and Finn's part. I should be able to post the last Chapter and Junko's part either tomorrow or the day after...

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks.

* * *

Finn

I take it back. Every mean thing I said to her or about her, I take it all back.

Piper, I swear I didn't really mean any of it.

But I guess it's a little too late now to hope she'll come running any minute now, screaming my name. That'll never happen again. I'll never get the chance to apologize for everything, either. At least it wasn't me she was frowning at when we left her in the hangar.

Not that it really changes anything. Actually, it doesn't even matter at all.

We still left her. And Stork too, of course. We still flew away from them as fast as we could just because some idiot managed to trick us. We were still away, far away, when they really needed us.

That's right; we had flown for quite a while when Stork contacted us. His voice was so low I could barely hear it but Aerrow understood everything he said. I've never seen anyone turn a skimmer around that fast. Junko and I copied him as fast as we could but he still had a head start. When we finally caught up with him Junko shouted, asking what had happened. I remember the look on Aerrow's face when he looked over his shoulder as he yelled back, saying we had been tricked by the Cyclonians. He was so worried and so angry, but what got me the most was the fear in his eyes. Something Stork said must have scared him more than anything - at least I have never seen him so afraid before.

So we flew back the way we came, pushing our rides to their limits.

We found the Condor pretty soon, though not exactly where we had left it. The Condor had been parked on a terra but even so, we picked the runway as our landing spot over the grassy ground. The door to the hangar was wide open and we slowly rode inside. There was no one there or outside for that matter. There were no Cyclonians anywhere, no rides except for Piper's heliscooter and Stork's whatever-it-is, and no Piper or Stork. We turned our engines off and listened as the sound faded. No one came.

I looked at Aerrow for orders and he met my eyes, drawing out his blades. I nodded, grabbing my crossbow. Junko just looked at us, worried.

"Um, guys, you don't really think something bad happened to them, do you?"

We couldn't answer; we didn't know what to think. Radarr whimpered and I we looked at him. He was already by the door and Aerrow immediately followed, telling us to come too. The door opened and we entered the hallway.

Okay, I didn't like being in the hangar before, you know with the silence and no Piper or Stork to tell us they were okay, but the hallway was even worse. The silence there was so thick you could almost cut through it, and there were pieces of metal and some other stuff scattered all over the floor.

I'm _the_ Finn, the great Domo of Vapos. I'm not afraid of anything. But that... seeing that actually managed to scare me. Something seriously bad must've happened.

We found Stork first. We walked through the hallways, looking into every room on our way, and we found him inside the medical bay, hugging his knees. We hurried over the room and kneeled next to him, weapons laid down on the floor forgotten. It didn't matter anymore anyway; if Stork could sit here out in the open then there couldn't be any Cyclonians around.

We asked Stork everything we could think of at the time - if he was okay; what had happened; where Piper was; if the Cyclonians had her; etc - but he didn't reply. All we got out of him was incoherent murmur. I'm pretty sure though that he said "Dark Ace" at least once and "Talons" quite often. I think he mentioned Piper too. I wondered if this was some sort of Sky Shock but Aerrow doubted it. He got up and went to the door, saying he was gonna check out the rest of the rooms. I followed.

He opened the first door and looked over the room. Empty and intact. No one had been in there while we were gone. I wasn't really surprised; all the other rooms we had checked before had been left untouched by the Talons. And besides, I didn't really think we'd find her; I was sure the Cyclonians had her and we'd go rescue her in a few minutes.

I went to the next door, opening it reluctantly. Empty and intact, too. Boring...

He walked to the third. The door to the bridge.

I saw Aerrow freeze in the doorway. I was about to ask what he saw, but he was gone before I could even open my mouth. I walked after him, curious, but I had a dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach. And it grew with every step I took. Like everywhere else, there was no sound coming from the room and I wondered what had caught his attention. That is, until I got to the doorway myself.

Like Aerrow, I froze.

He had found Piper but that wasn't exactly what bothered me. It was their position. It was how he held her. He was kneeling on the floor, holding her close to him like she'd disappear if he'd let her go. I heard him say something but his voice was too low so I didn't catch his words. I heard him pause, breathing in and slowly letting it out. That's when I realized why it felt so wrong and I tore my eyes away from the scene.

Piper never replied.

I ran.

I ran as fast as I could down the hallway, away from the room, away from her. I brushed past Junko and rounded the corner. I heard him yell my name but I didn't stop. I couldn't stop. All I could think of was that this had to be a dream. There was no way this had really happened. There was no way Piper was dead.

This just had to be a dream, a nightmare.

...And I'm still waiting to wake up from it.


	7. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

_A step backwards. A sigh. A decision made. _

_He was wasting his time toying with her - and it wasn't even half as fun as it was with that damn Sky Knight of hers._

_This would end now._

_Blade raised and held as if in defence. Staff twirled above her head and swung down, aimed at his head. He instantly moved the blade from its former position and thrust forward._

_Only his weapon came in contact with its target. _

_She screamed._

_Her staff left her hands and hit the floor with a clank. No one noticed, no one heard; all eyes were on her._

_A victorious smile._

_A quick move of his hand._

_And her body fell lifeless to the bloodstained floor, amber eyes staring unseeingly at the gray ceiling. _


	8. Junko

_**The Day She Left Us**_

A day late but here's the last chapter and Junko's part. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks

Junko

This isn't fair. It's far from being fair. It's so unfair I don't know about anything...uh... unfairer! But then again, the Cyclonians rarely play fair. I never thought they'd go this far, though, in trying to bring us down. I mean, tricking us with that fake call was a pretty dirty trick. I just wish we had been quicker on our way back. Maybe then, she'd still be here.

Though, Stork did tell me it wouldn't have mattered at all.

You see, I stayed with him while Finn and Aerrow went to check out the other rooms. Radarr stayed with us and stared curiously at Stork. Poor guy. I wondered what had made him this way, what had happened that made him unable to do anything but sit there muttering to himself. Maybe this was the effects of some kind of a crystal. Or maybe he saw or heard something really scary, though I wasn't sure then what that could have been. At that time, I didn't know how close to the truth I really was.

We tried talking to him, Radarr and me, but he still didn't reply to anything we said. I fell silent and listened for the guys in the hallway. I listened as they opened the doors and closed them again, trying to keep track on where they were, what room they were looking into. I wasn't sure though what they were looking for. I mean, Piper would be right here, trying to help Stork if she was on the ship, right? She just had to be a prisoner. At least... that's what I wanted to believe.

I didn't hear the third door close and I frowned in confusion as I stood up. I walked to the door and into the hallway only to see Finn run past me. I called after him but he didn't stop. I didn't know what to do. I stayed by the doorway to the medical bay for about a minute after he disappeared around the corner. Radarr still sat next to Stork, trying everything he could think of to help him. I think he was running out of ideas because when I looked at him he was waving his hand in front of Stork's face. I knew I couldn't just stand there so I decided to leave them and go find Aerrow. I turned and noticed the door to the bridge was still open so that's where I headed. I hadn't seen Aerrow anywhere so he just had to be there. And maybe he knew why Finn had run away so fast without as much as a word.

I backed out as soon as I stepped into the room.

I refused to believe what I saw but I knew deep inside that I couldn't deny it. I stumbled back into the medical bay and sank to the floor next to Stork, staring at the wall in front of me without actually seeing it. I could see from the corner of my eye that Radarr looked at me with confused before he turned to leave. I grabbed the little guy quickly and hugged him tightly, careful not to squish him. I just couldn't let him go off to see... _it_. Stork had stopped muttering the moment I came back and we sat there in silence for a while. Thick, sorrowful silence until...

"It's true what the Dark Ace said, isn't it? You saw it, that's why you came back so fast." He paused. "She's dead, isn't she?"

Radarr stopped squirming in my arms and looked at me doubtfully, waiting for me to deny it. I couldn't speak so I just nodded, confirming what Stork apparently already knew. Radarr shook his head, his eyes wide. He didn't want to believe it any more than I did.

Stork began to talk softly, telling us what had happened after we left. His voice was so soft, only a whisper, and so full of disbelief. It was like he was explaining a lie someone had told him. Radarr and I didn't make a sound. We just sat there, letting him speak, and I held onto the little critter like my life depended on it. I think that, in a way, it really did. Tears started to run down my face but I barely noticed. I just listened to Stork's story, imagined Piper fighting the Talons as he explained and sobbed a little when he told me she had fought the Dark Ace and why she did it. He told us everything he knew about the Cyclonians' plans, about the ambush and the fake call...

But right now, that's the last thing I want to think about. Right now, all I can do is stare at her grave and wish it didn't have to be this way. I wish it wasn't her grave and that she was back on the Condor, waiting for us to come back. I wish...

I wish for a lot of things; I think all of us do. But I know that no matter how much we want our wishes to come true, no matter how much we want her to be alive, it won't work. She's still missing from the Condor, her room is still empty of people and her things still lie untouched where she left them. All we have left to remember her by are the few pictures we have of her and the gray stone in front of us.


End file.
